I dunno about other brands, but I really like Laguna Bay Spas. My hubby and I bought one for Christmas last year, the X12, and we use it daily. We live where we get a lot of snow and a lot of rain, which isn't a problem because we use the cover that was provided to us. It stays hot too and doesn't take a lot of reheating over and over again. For the price and the extra perks you get, like the cover and they ship for free, it's awesome. We've yet to experience a problem, either mechanical or otherwise, and we don't expect to.